Storer College

Storer College

Storer College postcard (1940)[1]
Former names	Storer Normal School
Active	1867; 157 years ago (1867) – 1955; 69 years ago (1955)
Location	Harpers Ferry , West Virginia , United States 39°19′25.64″N 77°44′7.49″W / 39.3237889°N 77.7354139°W / 39.3237889; -77.7354139

Storer College was a historically black college in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, that operated from 1867 to 1955. A national icon for black Americans, in the town where the 'end of American slavery began', as Frederick Douglass famously put it,^[2] it was a unique institution whose focus changed several times. There is no one category of college into which it fits neatly. Sometimes white students studied alongside black students, which at the time was prohibited by law at state-regulated schools in West Virginia and the other Southern states.

In the early twentieth century, Storer was at the center of the growing protest movement against

John Brown's Fort, a symbol of the end of slavery in the United States, was located from 1909 until 1968 on the Storer campus, where it was once used as the college museum (the "fort" has since been moved back to the lower town). Although the college closed in 1955, much of the Storer campus is now preserved as part of Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.

Location

"The locality is eminently healthful, and one of the most beautiful that can be imagined."^[3]

According to an article in the Journal of Negro Education:

It has been said that few college sites are more scenic than the grounds occupied by Storer College for some 100 years. Situated at an almost clifftop location, the college site overlooks the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers[,] over which tower the majestic Blue Ridge Mountains. Thomas Jefferson is reported to have said that this view was "worth a voyage across the Atlantic".^[4]: 445

History

Founding

Storer began in 1865 as a one-room elementary school, sponsored by New England

At a conference in 2015 honoring the 150th anniversary of Storer College, John Cuthbert, head of the West Virginia & Regional History Center, observed:

It is almost impossible for us to comprehend today how revolutionary the establishment of an African-American school was at the close of the Civil War. Just a few years earlier, education of slaves was potentially a capital offense in Virginia. The education of even free blacks was forbidden by law.[6]

Once slavery was ended in the United States and the education of blacks was no longer prohibited, there was a "wild rush for the schools".^[7]: 466

A $10,000 matching grant from

The founding of the school was related to a larger national effort by Northern

It was Mr. Storer's wish that the institution eventually become a college and it be so chartered—with a proviso that it be operated as a Normal School or Seminary until the endowment funds should be adequate for college purposes. And that it be open to both sexes without regard to race or color.[14]^: 5

The money was raised, and by March 1868 Storer received its state charter, which was approved in the Legislature by a vote of 13–6,^[15]: 181 though the phrase "without distinction of race or color" was fiercely debated. At the same time the institution was authorized to operate as a normal school, training teachers for the "colored schools".^[10]: xxi "Storer College, Normal Department" opened its doors in October of that year.^{[13][5]: 264} It was sometimes referred to informally as Storer Normal School.

According to its Trustees, in 1870:

It is the design that this institution shall ultimately become a College, and to this end, a charter granting full College powers has been obtained. It will, however, be run for the present as a Normal School or Academy, as it is believed that in this way it will best meet the wants of the colored people for whose benefit it is especially designed. But it is hoped that, at no very distant day. the facilities for instruction will be more ample, the Course of Study enlarged, and the number of students increased, and that many will be receiving collegiate instruction.^[4]: 446

Brackett was principal of the school until 1896. He remained Storer's Treasurer and member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees until his death in 1910.^[5]: 264

Armory buildings and land

According to a bill signed by

The College was dedicated on December 22, 1869.[18]

The "College" of Storer College

When founded and for most of its existence, Storer did not offer what in the 21st century would be deemed a college education or college credits. Numerous other colleges, such as

At the time, credentials as understood today (2021)—college degrees, for example—were much less important, and the line between college and pre-college instruction was often blurry. Just as today with upper undergraduate and graduate students in the U.S., pre-college and college students might be in the same classroom, taking the same course at the same time, but at a different level of instruction. Medical schools, in the nineteenth century, did not require as prerequisite a college education as understood today (2021). Neither did teaching:

In 1938 Storer began offering a curriculum that would lead to a four-year college degree.[15]^: 182

Storer College, Jefferson County, and West Virginia

In 1867, that the charter of Storer should say "without distinction of race or color" was "fiercely debated" in the Legislature, and approval of the charter was delayed until March 1868.^[21] In 1881 the Legislature directed that the state finance the education of 17 prospective "colored" teachers, justifying this number as being equivalent, relative to West Virginia's colored population at the time, to the ratio of white prospective teachers supported by the state compared to its white population.^[22]

Finances of the college

The school charged only minimal tuition, $3 per quarter, or $20 for five years. Rooms were only $3 per quarter, so the students' main expense was for their board, estimated at $2–$3 per week.^[5]: 265

By 1881, the school had already passed through "severe financial embarrassments".^[23]: 231

Support of the College was the largest single endeavor of the Free Baptists, to which they were "thoroughly committed".^[9]: 45

In 1867, in addition to chartering it, the West Virginia Legislature appropriated $10,000 (equivalent to $218,000 in 2023). This was the first appropriation in the state for the education of Negroes above the elementary level.^[4]: 445

From 1882 to 1892, Storer received $630 from the State of West Virginia, to provide "industrial-type training for Negroes".^[10]: 108 In 1903, President McDonald referred to the state's "small biennial appropriation" for the same purpose.^[10]: 105

In 1911–1912, the American Baptist Home Mission Society, which "as a result of doctrinal conflicts" absorbed the Free Baptists in 1911,^{[10]: 105 [24]: 17–18} contributed $1,350 to salaries,^[24]: 107 and in 1912–1913 was budgeted to contribute $2,750,^[24]: 101 and for 1913–1914^[24]: 104 and 1914–1915,^[24]: 120 $3,000 each year. In addition, Storer was to receive $1,785 from the sale of Manning Bible School (Cairo, Illinois) property,^[24]: 125

In 1926, the Legislature appropriated $6,000, which did not even cover half the faculty and administrative salaries.^[10]: xxix The Free Will Baptist–Home Mission Society, which quashed a fundraising drive, saying they were overextended, contributed $3,000. The Women's Baptist Home Mission Society contributed $3,000, to be used on programs that served women. In 1925 the income from these three main sources totaled $12,096, while expenditures totalled $49,291. "Boarding fees, tuition, and income from the school's farming enterprises, property investments, and donations made up the remainder."^{[10]: xxx, 124, 126}

In 1932, the West Virginia Legislature reduced its support from $17,500 to $12,000.^[10]: xxx

Local hostility

Raising $10,000 turned out to be easy compared to facing local resistance by whites to a "

Residents of Harpers Ferry tried everything from

These efforts did not succeed in closing Storer, and eventually, local attitudes changed. In 1891, "the inhabitants of Harper's Ferry hold a true interest and even a pride in the college. Some of its old opponents are now numbered among its most devoted friends. And no person in the community is held in higher honor or greater esteem than Mr. Brackett, once of all men the most hated and despised."[14]^: 11 However, in 1896 the college ceased renting rooms in the summer to black vacationers, because of local opposition. It continued accommodating white vacationers. The decision was much criticized by students and alumni.^[10]: 102

The citizens of Harpers Ferry did not like having John Brown's Fort in their town or the black tourists it attracted, and were happy it was moved to Chicago.^[27] They were quite unhappy at its return and then move to the Storer campus.

In 1944 Storer's first black president, Richard Ishmael McKinney, was welcomed with a

Some modern scholars view Storer as a reconstructed plantation.[28]^: 125 Students were taught that they should efface themselves. The school had at one point a Modern Minstrel Company, which performed "Plantation Songs and Melodies” and renditions of numbers like “If the Man in the Moon Was a Coon".^[28]: 125 President Nathan Brackett said that the school’s “humble and illiterate” students "generally show a desire to work and submit to wholesome discipline.” To instill moral character, students were obliged to “march in military columns” between classes, were not permitted to “jump, dance, or scuffle” inside campus buildlngs or go on “pleasure excursions, rides, or walks in mixed company.” Other rules deterred students from socializing in town or mingling with townspeople.^[28]: 126

Students did most campus labor, cooking meals, cleaning buildings, maintaining the campus, and caring for the animals on the school farm.^{[28]: 121! 127}

NAACP not permitted to post plaque on Fort

Paternalism is particularly linked with Storer's second president,

In 1932, Max Berber, a founder of the NAACP, presided over the unveiling of a tablet honoring John Brown at the college and referred to Brown as an initiator of the civil rights group.[29] W.E.B. Du Bois had prepared a new plaque in response to the Hayward Shepherd monument, but McDonald, backed by the trustees, refused to allow the NAACP to place this plaque on a wall of the Fort.

The plaque was not erected until 2006. Rather than attaching it to the Fort at its present location, as originally planned, by request from the black community the Park Service located it on the former Storer campus, at the Fort's former location.^{[26]: 156–157}

Storer graduates

In 1895, the 20 "free schools" in Jefferson County were all taught by Storer graduates. Storer graduates were also found "in other important schools all over the state", and from Maryland in the northeast to Texas in the southwest.^[10]: 95

An icon for African Americans

During the 88 years it existed, Storer had a great symbolic importance to American blacks.

One has only to linger there a short time, go through a week of commencement, to realize that that institution is doing a glorious, a far-reaching work, impossible of estimate for the colored race. All over that superb valley [Shenandoah] you find teachers and preachers taking high rank and having great influence who are Storer alumni.^[9]: 31

Storer and Harpers Ferry were in fact a black destination. Many black tourists came to Harpers Ferry; there was a hotel catering to them, the

Frederick Douglass's speech, 1881

Storer College was a site of various important events in West Virginia and national African-American history.

The

The program for its first meeting, celebrated in Fort Erie, Ontario, for fear of disruptions in Buffalo, New York, was typed on the back of Storer letterhead.^[36]

The Movement's second conference, the first in the U.S., was held at Storer in 1906. Attendees walked to John Brown's Fort, which shortly thereafter was moved to the campus.

The 1907 meeting would also have been held at Storer, but the school's white administrators would not permit it, because of pressures placed on them.

The Niagara Movement published an annual "Address to the World", demanding

The

John Brown's Fort, the firehouse at the former Harpers Ferry Armory, was moved to the Storer campus in 1909, where it housed the college museum. In 1968, after closure of the college and establishment of the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, the National Park Service moved it back to as close to its original location as possible at the time.^[37]

Four-year college degrees

In 1938, under the leadership of school president Henry T. McDonald, Storer became a four-year college. The last new building was completed in 1939-1940. Enrollment peaked at around 400, as Storer and other colleges had struggled during the privations of the Great Depression. The number of students dipped lower with the high rate of participation by young men in World War II. The college had received some financial support from the state of West Virginia, as it helped educate blacks, who were limited to segregated schools and colleges.

Although the school granted four-year degrees, it never received

Closure of the college

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It is commonly said that Storer closed because state funding ended after the 1954

(1895), which were more centrally located and served students that might have attended Storer.

Providing four-year college educations was much more expensive than training primary school teachers. In fact it was beyond the resources of the Freewill Baptists, whose support for the college depended on such things as children's Sunday School contributions.^[38]: 115

Storer never achieved

regional accreditation, and its new (1936) three-year pre-med degrees were not accepted at medical schools. Accreditation required a $100,000 endowment, and Storer had only $20,000.^[10]: 132 The library and gymnasium were outdated.^[10]

^: 135 At the same time, Storer did not have the support of the local community. The hostility from the white community, most of whom wished Brown had never heard of Harper's Ferry, and some of whom made no secret of what they thought of a "nigger college", led to some management decisions that sapped the College's support internally. The College had to sell land to meet expenses. With no state money coming ever again, or so they expected, there was no way to survive. So it closed in 1955.

The college's former campus and buildings were returned to federal control, specifically to the National Park Service (NPS), authorized in a 1962 appropriation, as part of what was then Harpers Ferry National Monument and is now the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. It is currently (2021) one of NPS's four regional training centers.

In 1954, the NAACP achieved a victory with the

unconstitutional. "The West Virginia Legislature withdrew its annual appropriation from Storer because of the Supreme Court ruling outlawing segregation in public schools, and the resultant policy of integration in state schools. The Legislature [described as "unsympathetic"^[10]: 3] said the appropriation was intended to finance studies by Negro students at Storer but is now unnecessary because Negroes now are eligible to enroll at other state colleges. The enrollment at Storer has been exclusively Negro." The state appropriation was $20,000. In its final year, the College had 88 students.^[39]

Storer had been accumulating debt for a decade, and could not survive without the state appropriation. In June 1955, Storer College closed its doors forever.

Education at Storer

Understanding that former slaves needed to learn more than the three Rs to function in society, Storer founders intended to provide more than a basic education. According to the first college catalog, students were to "receive counsel and sympathy, learn what constitutes correct living, and become qualified for the performance of the great work of life." In its early years, in the press to expand literacy among the freedmen and their children, Storer taught

freedmen

to read, write, spell, do sums, and to go back into their communities to teach others these lessons.

Storer believed that "morality" went hand in hand with education; for admission, students had to "give satisfactory evidence of a good moral character."^[40]

Storer remained primarily a teachers college, but added courses in higher education as well as industrial training. Students graduated with a "normal degree," for teaching elementary school students, or an academic degree, for those going on to college. Buildings were constructed through the 1930s, with Permelia Eastman Cook Hall, a handsome grey stone building, completed 1939-1940.^[1]

In 1911, the West Virginia Legislature struck Storer from its list of accredited normal programs, meaning its graduates could not receive teaching certificates, because "the curriculum did not adequately include enough professional training."^[28]: 138

In 1921 Storer was granted junior collegiate status,^[10]: xxix although it did not award Associate degrees until 1937,^[10]: 118 and in 1945, senior status.^[10]: xxxi The state accredited its education programs.

Industrial education

Starting in the 1880s, Storer started offering vocational and industrial courses; in 1897 the trustees made industrial education a course of study; there were 137 students that year.^{[10]: xxvii} This formalization of manual labor at Storer corresponded with a widespread movement in the South that was predicated upon white supremacists['] notions of black inferiority. ...Manual labor made African Americans fit for citizenship by instilling Christian values and moral character." The school eventually required all normal students to take industrial courses, so that by 1904 it was training more tradespeople than teachers.^{[28]: 121–122}

Henry T. McDonald, also white, in 1899 became Storer's second president. He strongly advocated manual-labor education, overseeing major aspects of the school’s transition.^[28]: 123

Faculty

The Storer College Alumni Association has published on its Web site a list of all the faculty and other employees.^[41]

In 1871 the faculty was the following:

• N. C. Brackett, Principal (arithmetic, philosophy, and political economy)
• A. H. Morrell (Bible history and vocal music)
• Lura [sic] E. Brackett, Preceptress (English grammar, algebra, and botany) (sister of N. C. Brackett)
• Louise Wood Brackett (Latin and drawing) (wife of N. C. Brackett)
• Lizzie Morell (instrumental music)

Plus various substitutes, assistants, and a matron.^[42]: 4

Bluefield Colored Institute. He was a trustee of Storer from 1891 until 1906.^[43]

The Bracketts' daughters, Mary Brackett Robertson and Celeste Brackett Newcomer, both taught at the school.

In 1899, the President, the first to be given that title,^[10]: 105 was Henry F. McDonald.^[44]: 103 At that time there were 7 full-time and 4 part-time teachers, no courses beyond the high school level, an outdated library, inadequate science labs and equipment, and buildings in desperate need of essential repairs.^[10]: 104

During the 1911–1912 academic year, Storer had a faculty of 19: 6 male and 13 female, 10 white and 9 "Negro".^{[24] : 179}

In 1917, the College, "now industrial and normal in character", had about 150 students, and "the faculty is entirely white."^[45]

In 1931-32, of the 11 faculty members reported, 5 had a master's degree, and 6 a bachelor's degree.^[19]: 282

commencement speaker in 1947. Financial solvency was not achieved, and there were tensions with the paternalistic white Board of Directors. McKinney tendered his resignation in 1949, but it was not accepted until the following year, when "the board was...eager to rid Storer of McKinney".^[10]

^{: 129–132}

Enrollment

Porte Crayon

.

Over the first forty years of the college, enrollment averaged 176.[5]^: 268 However, it varied dramatically with the season. For example, in 1873–74, there were 80 fall term students, 167 in the winter term, and for the summer, 124.^{[7]: 461–462}

The first 8 graduates of the Storer Normal School graduated in 1872. In 1874, a writer observed that the demand for these "colored teachers...is far beyond the capacity of the college with its present means and endowments to supply."^[7]: 463 By 1877 there were 100 former students teaching, of which 37 were graduates, and many of the remainder returned termittently to complete their education. That year a semi-annual, week-long teachers' institute was inaugurated.^[5]: 268

The first graduates of the Academic Department were in 1880.^{[42]: 21–23}

In 1871 there were 203 enrollees. Counting those still students, Academic Department, 42 students; Normal Department, 174 students; Preparatory Division, 101 students. As of that date there had been 285 different students enrolled.^[42]: 15 The same year, the Spirit of Jefferson newspaper reported "more than 150...of all ages and sexes, and...all shades and colors."^[15]: 181 In 1875, there were 285.^[10]: 82

In 1881, a report of the Free-Will Baptists indicates that at Storer there were 200 enrolled students, 62 graduates, level unspecified, and the total number who had enrolled at some time was 800.^[23]: 252 The report also says that the College had "sent out" over 200 teachers and 25 preachers.^[23]: 230 In 1882–84 there were 63 enrolled in the three-year normal school training.^[10]: 86

In its first 20 years, the school trained hundreds of teachers from West Virginia, Ohio, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.^[28]: 126

In 1895 there were 250 graduates of the Normal Department.^{[10]: xxvii}

In 1901 there were 49 male and 73 female students.^[38]: 53

In 1931 there were 130 students, 52 at the junior college level and 78 at the high school level.^[19]: 276

Over its 90-year history, about 7,000 students enrolled.^[21] The Storer College Alumni Association has a 70-page list on its web site.^[46] As of the later 19th century students came from 14 states and 4 foreign countries.^[10]: 86

Curriculum

Storer's first program was the normal program, preparing teachers. In 1872 Storer started its first academic, four-year department, the Seminary Course [high school]; it taught

Domestic science became required for females in 1893, and girls were required to sew their own graduation gowns.^[5]: 267 A separate department of Biblical Literature emerged in 1895.^[5]

^: 266

Starting in 1899, when Storer's second president started, for graduation students had to complete these assigned readings:

• Political philosopher Edmund Burke, who supported the American Revolution.
• Abolitionist American writer Noah Webster.
• English Romantic poet William Wordsworth.
• American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
• American writer Washington Irving.
• English novelist and abolitionist George Eliot (pseudonym of Mary Ann Evans).
• The abolitionist American poet John Greenleaf Whittier.
• Shakespeare.^[5]: 266

Student life

From the outset and as late as 1887, students "of any state of advancement", who could "give satisfactory evidence of good moral character", were admitted on any day of the session, and placed by examination.^[5]: 265 According to Storer's first catalogue (1869), students were to "receive counsel and sympathy, learn what constitutes correct living, and become qualified for the great work of life".^[5]: 265 Every student was required to have a Bible and to attend chapel, Sunday school, 9 AM prayer, and daily 15-minute assemblies.^{[42]: 18–20} Students were allowed to attend intermittently, depending on personal responsibility and finances. By 1889 a minimum age of thirteen was set, in 1909 raised to fourteen.^[5]: 265

Students at Storer were subject to many other rules. Class attendance was mandatory, as was an hour's study before class each morning. Students were not allowed to drop or change classes. Students could not "loiter" on campus, and they were forbidden from leaving the campus during the week, and on weekends were to avoid dances and "walks in mixed company". Women students were not allowed out after dark, could not be seen alone in the company of a man, and required an escort when going to the train station.^{[10]: 79–80}

Buildings

Storer's facilities were described as "bare bones". For example, there was no hot water in the men's dormitory in 1947.^[31]

Original buildings

Buildings still standing in 2022 are marked in bold.

• Four Armory buildings. With the support of Senator and future President
  James Garfield, who had studied in a Free Will Baptist school, in 1869 Congress turned over to the War Department, who turned over to the Freedmen's Bureau, and then to Storer, four surviving buildings at Camp Hill, all built by the federal government as housing for Armory employees. They were "dilapidated" after Civil War damage.^[10]: 61 Additional land was purchased.^[5]
  ^: 267
  • Philip H. Sheridan.^[48]: 97 Nathan Brackett set up his first school in 1865, he personally teaching a roomful of illiterate freedmen to read. There was a hole in the roof from a shell and windows missing,^[48]: 98 and the second floor could not be used until it was repaired. In 1867 Brackett opened the "Storer Normal School in this building.^[48]: 98 By 1869 the classroom and chapel had been relocated to Anthony House, and Lockwood became primarily a dormitory. In the summer rooms were rented out, to raise money. In 1883 a third floor with a girls' dormitory was added.^{[10]: 21, 64} in 1941 it became a faculty apartment building.^{[10]: xxxi, 113} However, it fell into disuse and when the College closed in 1955 was in "considerable disrepair".^[48]
    ^: 98
  • The original Brackett House, built in 1858, was formerly the superintendent's clerks' quarters.[10]^{: 61 [48]: 100} In 1880, it was occupied by principal Brackett, his family of 6, 3 servants, and 13 female students. A new girls' dormitory was built.^[10]: 65 After this building was destroyed by fire, a replacement building was buil in 1909–10. It was first called New Lincoln Hall and then renamed for Brackett in 1938. This building was demolished in 1962. In 1995 a Park Service building occupies the site.^{[48]: 100, 103}
  • Morell House was built in 1858, and was formerly the paymaster's clerk's quarters.^[10]: 61 It is named for Alexander H. Morrell, who was a Free Will Baptist preacher sent to Harpers Ferry by the church to help in the education of freemen.^[48]: 101 In 1870, Reverend Morell and his wife had 20 to 27 girls boarding with them.^[10]: 67 In 1995 it held the office of the Superintendent of Harpers Ferry National Historic Park, and other administrative offices.^[48]: 101
  • The north wing of Anthony House, later Anthony Memorial Hall, was the Armory superintendent's quarters.
    General Garfield".^[50] It was rehabilitated by the NPS in 1963, and houses the Mather Training Center.^[48]
    ^: 104

Additional buildings

• The Bird-Brady House served as a private residence for teachers and families associated with the school. Originally occupied by white Baptists, the house is named after Elizabeth Bird and Mabel Brady, sisters who graduated from the college and worked there as administrators in the 1940s and 50s. From the 1940s on, African-Americans began to take a stronger leadership role in running the college. The building was bought by the National Park Service in 1962, but Bird and Brady continue to live there until at least 1970. Afterwards, the building was converted for use as office space as part of the NPS's Harpers Ferry Center.[51]
• Lincoln Hall, the boys' dormitory, was a
  frame building built in 1870–71. It contained 34 double rooms on 3 stories. In the summer rooms were rented to tourists and boarders, to raise money.^[15]: 183 It burned to the ground in 1909.^{[48]: 103 [10]: 70, 99} It was replaced in 1909–10 with New Lincoln Hall, housing 100 students, renamed Brackett Hall in 1938. It was demolished in 1962, and an NPS building is on the site.^[48]
  ^: 103
• In 1889 the school "very much need[ed] a heating system". The school had no running water, and the town of Harper's Ferry was "too poor" to put in a water works system.They have therefore no protection from fire. The Industrial Building was practically completed, and they were seeking $1,000 to buy equipment for it.[9]^: 48 A physics and chemistry laboratory was set up in the DeWolf Industrial Building, and they are raising money for a carpentry building.^[9]: 53
• The Lewis W. Anthony Industrial Building was built in 1902 and was originally used for the college's industrial training classes, but was converted to be its library in 1929, part of the school's movement away from being a trade school towards a more academically-oriented program typical of a four-year liberal arts college. The building is now called the Anthony Library and serves as the library for the National Park Services's Harpers Ferry Center.^[52][53]
• John Brown's raid, and remained there through the College's closure in 1955.^{[48]: 101–102} It "was a tourist destination—almost a shrine—for African Americans in the late nineteenth century."^[54] It contained the College museum, with display cases, and pictures of Brown, Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Kate Field (who got it returned to Harpers Ferry, from Chicago).^[55] In 1968 the National Park Service moved it to its present location in lower Harpers Ferry.^[48]
  ^: 101
• Lewis W. Anthony Industrial Arts Building, built in 1903, housed the blacksmith and carpenter's shops, and laboratories. It became the college library in 1929. The NPS uses it as a library.^[48]: 104
• A report of 1901 said that "a laboratory for physics and chemistry has been fitted up in the DeWolf Industrial Building".^[38]: 52
• Myrtle Hall, the girls' dormitory, was completed in 1879. It had 35 rooms for 60 women and several te achers. with cooking and laundry facilities in the basement. It was named for the Freewill Baptists' youth publication, The Myrtle.^[10]: xxv Renamed Mosher Hall (Mrs. Mosher edited The Myrtle) when it became the boys' dorm in the 20th century,^[10]: 113 it was torn down by the National Park Service in 1962.^{[48]: 104 [10]: xxxiv, 72–73}
• In 1940, Permelia Eastman Cook Hall opened. It houses a new physics laboratory and the home economics department. In 1995 it was used as a dormitory for visiting NPS personnel,^[48]: 101 but it is now used for offices, including those of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail.^[56][57]
• The Science Building, built 1947, and the DeWolf Industrial Building were also razed by the NPS.^[48]: 104

Legacy

In 1962, Congress appropriated funds for the National Park Service to acquire the surviving buildings on campus, some occupied by

squatters,^[15]: 194 as part of what is now known as Harpers Ferry National Historical Park

. It had been established in 1944 as a National Monument, taking in much of the declining town.

As part of this change, in 1964, the movable physical assets of the college were transferred to the historically white

Baptist college, and used to establish scholarships for black students. The college's endowment was merged with Virginia Union University, a historically black college.^[58][59]

Since 1964,

West Virginia and Regional History Center, and at Howard University's Moorland–Spingarn Research Center

.

The campus of the college is now maintained as a part of the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Since 1963, the three remaining college structures now house the National Park Service's Stephen T. Mather Training Center and the Service's library. The Training Center is one of four major training centers operated by and for the National Park Service. It is named for the Service's first Director, Stephen Mather. The college buildings were completely remodeled.^[61]

Each August, the alumni of Storer College gather in Harpers Ferry for an annual reunion. At last count^[when?] fewer than 70 alumni survive.

Archival material

The archives of Storer College are located at the WVU Libraries, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia. "The West Virginia and Regional History Center holds five archives and manuscripts collections that exclusively contain Storer College materials."^[62] Howard University has a small collection of Storer material.^[63] The National Park Service library and archive in Harpers Ferry has many items, and the Jefferson County Museum, in Charles Town, has a permanent exhibit, "The Founding of Storer College".^[64]

Notable alumni and faculty

Name	Class year	Notability	Reference(s)
John Dunjee		Prominent Free Will Baptist preacher and early fundraiser for Storer
J. R. Clifford	1875	First African-American attorney from WV
Hamilton Hatter	1878	First president of Bluefield Colored Institute , inventor
Coralie Franklin Cook	1880	Professor at Howard University
John Francis Wheaton	1882	First African American member of the Minnesota State Legislature[65]
Ida Newby	1884	Niece of Dangerfield Newby
Lewis Penick Clinton		West African prince and Baptist missionary
Jared Maurice Arter		Writer, missionary, academic
Robert Page Sims	1887	College president, academic, civil rights leader
Stella James Sims	1893	Professor at Storer College and Bluefield Colored Institute
J. C. Gilmer	1893	State Librarian of West Virginia, "the only colored State official in the United States"	[66]
William A. Saunders	1895	Longest serving Black teacher at Storer, 1907-1944
Don Redman		Arranger for the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra during the 1920s and 1930s. He also played saxophone and clarinet in the group.
Madison Spencer Briscoe	1924	Ph.D., Catholic Univ., Storer faculty 1930–1934	[67]
Nnamdi Azikiwe	1926	First President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He studied at Storer from 1925–27, but finished his education at Howard University and then Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) .	[10]: 131
Ella P. Stewart		African-American pharmacist
Thomas Lovett		Built Hill Top House Hotel

See also

• Bluefield State College
• Shepherd University
• Straight University
• West Virginia State University

References

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Further reading

• Batesel, Paul (2018). "Storer College". Lost Colleges.
• Powers, Nick (October 26, 2017). "The Legacy of Storer College (1867-1955), Part 1". Museum of the Shenandoah Valley. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
• Powers, Nick (November 13, 2017). "The Legacy of Storer College (1867-1955), Part 2". Museum of the Shenandoah Valley. Archived from the original on August 8, 2020. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
• "Preserving Storer College". Ex Libris (West Virginia University Libraries): 2–15. Fall 2015.
• Gozdzik, Gloria (January 2002). A historic resource study for Storer College, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia (PDF).
  OCLC 70924920
  .
• Toogood, Anna Coxe (1969). The Lockwood House, Birthplace of Storer College, Furnishings Study, Historical Data Section (PDF). RSP–HAFE–11. Washington, D.C.: Division of History, Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation, National Park Service, U.S. Dept. of the Interior.
• Gordon, Vivian Verde (Autumn 1961). "A History of Storer College, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia".
  JSTOR 2294066
  .
• Davis, Mary A (1900). "The South and Its Claims. Storer College". History of the Free Baptist woman's missionary society. Boston: Morning Star. pp. 30–36.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Storer College.

• Storer College Digital Collection at
  West Virginia and Regional History Center https://storercollege.lib.wvu.edu/
• Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) No. WV-277, "Storer College, Harpers Ferry, Jefferson County, WV"
• HABS No. WV-277-A, "Storer College, Anthony Hall"
• HABS No. WV-277-B, "Storer College, Mosher Hall"
• HABS No. WV-277-C, "Storer College, Lewis Anthony Library"
• HABS No. WV-277-D, "Storer College, Brackett Hall"
• HABS No. WV-277-E, "Storer College, Cook Hall, 252 McDowell Street"